The Desert Princess - a Work in Progress Oct. 18th

OK, where did I leave off on the Desert Princess?? :) It's getting a little harder to find time to work on it as the soap is starting to demand more and more of my attention. Which, by the way, is a GOOD thing!

I added the last strand to the piece. I know I said I was going to add a couple of pieces of red coral, but I just love this blue blue turquoise too much !!

(Click on photos to enlarge)


Now I am at a point where I have to think outside the box a little, a bit outside my comfort zone. These 2 sections need to be braced apart, so they are not collapsing into each other. I do a little bit of wire wrapping, so I have plenty of sterling wire. So, using a 6 inch piece of 18 gauge half hard, and my little wigjig, I made a simple modified U shaped connector, with 2 loops on the ends which I will connect strands of sterling silver beads.



And here they are attached to the necklace





And this effectively holds the two sections apart! Kind of plain looking, don't you think? I have some 24 gauge soft wire that I will do some wire wrapping with turquoise embellishments to spiff them up a bit. THEN I can make the sterling bead strands that will connect to the clasp. I still haven't decided which clasp. These are my two choices:



I'm liking the hook, but the toggle will probably hold up better under the weight of the necklace.

And speaking of princesses .....